It's an honor that you've allowed us to try and help with
your family and life issues.
Thank you very much for visiting.
Please return soon.

Love & Hugs,
Glen

Plain language
information and resources on Medicare, Parts A, B and Drug benefits and
Medicaid use and abuse. Also, many pages on other senior and elder care needs.

Medicare And Medicaid Use And
Abuse

Medicare and Medicaid are US
Government programs designed to see to it that no one goes without basic health
care, regardless of age or income. This article is to help
you understand and use these programs to supplement
your other retirement plans. For more information on Medicare
coverage, visit
Medicare Use frequently asked
questions. We'll also cover abuse of the Medicaid program to
help you avoid it. To help understand, here are some
top-selling
books about using Medicare and Medicaid.

Medicare Program Use (Part A):
Much of your senior the health care was already paid for through the Medicare tax you paid
throughout your career. You need to reach a qualifying age (currently 65), have a permanent disability, or have End Stage Renal Disease to receive benefits.
Once you qualify to use Medicare (part A) and pay a deductible, your required
hospital in-patient care and much of the short-term skilled nursing care is
covered.

Medicare Program Use (Part B):
This part of Medicare covers most
physician services, outpatient hospital services,
some home health services
and medical equipment. You pay, monthly, $ 78.00 and $
110.00 per year deductible.
Many people buy an insurance called "gap" to cover the co-payments and
deductibles not covered by Medicare parts A and B. See
Gap Insurance
Coverage for more info.

Medicare Drug Discount Card:
If you have Medicare Parts A and B,
you may be eligible for a drug discount card which can save you 15% or more on
prescription drugs. If you already have prescription drug benefits under
Medicaid, you don't need the card. If you have other prescription drug
benefits, the card may not benefit you.

Medicaid Program Use:
If you're over 65 and are eligible
under the poverty criteria established in your State, you may
qualify
for Medicaid coverage of medical, skilled nursing, assisted living and
other expenses. See the
Medicaid Use
information page to find qualifications
for your state.
Since Medicaid is for poor people, they will
need to know the value of your home,
cars, bank accounts, etc. Once
your assets are spent down to the
qualifying level, Medicaid would cover long term
assisted care and medical care. As you can
see, this is a last resort situation for when you have no other means. If
you're in this situation, your needs will be met. There
are long term care facilities that specialize in Medicaid care
with no additional fees. While they provide for your needs, they're not
the luxury option. If it's still early enough in your life, it's best to
invest for a better quality of life in the end. See our pages on
Financial Management Planning Help for more ideas.

Medicaid Program Abuse:
Unfortunately, there are now lawyers who want to make rich people
look poor as far as Medicaid is concerned, so they don't have to pay for their
long-term assisted care. Having seen
the facilities, I can tell
you it takes the utmost of greed to make someone subject themselves or their
"loved" one to this level of care if they have the money to do
better.
If you're without options, this care is a wonderful thing, but it ain't
the Hilton. Still, many misguided people have paid lawyers thousands to
hide their assets so they can enjoy their remaining years at taxpayer's expense.
Here's why this is one of the dumbest things someone with money can
do:
1. They can afford to do better. $ 4,000 per month will cover all
living expenses for assisted living and most skilled nursing situations not covered by
Medicare. In most US locations, it would cost far less for a luxury
assisted living suite. If you have $ 1,000 per month total retirement
income and $ 300,000 net assets (below average US home value) earning Money
Market interest, your estate would last over 10 years before you needed
Medicaid. The average time someone stays in assisted living before they
pass on is 2 years...less than 5 % stay longer than 10 years. The more assets, the less sense it makes to
dispose of the money and live off the dole. If you
need assistance to live, it's likely you won't outlive your assets. If you
do, thank God your needs will be met by Medicaid. You want to leave
your assets to your children? If they love you enough to deserve your
money, they would rather you spend it to have the best quality of life in your
remaining years. This is the principle meaning of "Honor your father and
mother."
2. It robs younger people who
earned the money and who have less,
by forcing them, through taxes, to
pay bills you could pay.
3. Even if you find "legal" ways to do it, it's immoral. If you're a
family member being asked to take part in this, say "no", or at least get your own lawyer to make sure you aren't committing Medicaid
Fraud.
4. It gives the kids and grandkids
a bad lesson about
responsibility and gives them a
really sad last look at you and your
character.

Finally, we in the US are lucky enough to live
in a country where we'll get necessary medical and assisted living care
regardless of age and financial ability. This doesn't mean we have nothing
more to worry about. This is a very frightening time of life, not knowing from
one day to the next what will change, controlling less and less of your life.
Fortunately, we have someone who loves us and will help us get through.
That someone is God. If you want help from God, click on
God Help Me.

Way2Hope News!

Always see a licensed medical practitioner before making changes in your health an fitness practices. Advice given at this website, or in conjunction with www.way2hope.org or e-Home Fellowship activities is not to replace the advice given by a licensed professional nor be taken as a counseling or clinical relationship but only as suggestion. We're just sharing things we've discovered, as regular untrained people. As a user of this website you bear full responsibility for your decisions and actions. External websites linked from this site are for information, only. We do not endorse any product, service or treatment. As a user of this website you bear full responsibility for your decisions regarding these products, services and treatments.

Bio: Glen
Williams is Director of E-Home Fellowship, Co. and Webmaster for
http://www.way2hope.org. He founded
EHF in 2001, after more than ten years of full-time service helping people with
life problems. Now, every month, people in over 160 countries come to EHF
websites for help with their problems.